Saturday, 9 November 2013

The Emotion Pets Sugar the Seal Review

I am loving the toy selection that is opening up to Leo as he grows up. No longer are all the toys baby orientated, as he grows the toys are getting more sophisticated and there opportunities for us to enjoy the toys together as he learns how to use them.

Leo was recently asked if he would like to have a play with a rather exciting toy, and I didn't have to think twice about saying 'yes' for him. This new toy is going to be rather popular this Christmas with both boys and girls, I know that when I was a child I would have gone rather wild for Sugar the Seal.

Sugar is an animatronic seal that makes a selection of realistic noises, blinks his deep blue eyes and flips his flippers in such a way that even lets him cruise slowly along the floor. After seeing the adverts for Sugar on the television I was really looking forward to see if he lived up to all the hype that surrounds him, and of course to see what Leo thought of his new friend.

I called Leo through for the grand un-veiling of Sugar, and instantly he was captivated by the snow white, soft to the touch Seal. Of course one of my first thoughts before we even turned him on was 'I wonder how long he will stay white?' but luckily Leo has been very careful with him and Sugar is still a lovely sparkly white! For now...

The first thing I personally noticed was his size, he is a quite large and perfect for little hands to cuddle and carry around. The second thing I noticed that admittedly I would have been a little disappointed with had I just bought this toy myself, was that there were no batteries included in the price. For me at £60.00 I would have half expected him to come with batteries so that you could start playing with him straight away. Luckily we always have batteries lying around the house so it was no real set back.

The batteries are easy enough to fit and go underneath Sugar on his belly where there is a Velcro lining that you pull away in order to access the battery compartment. This is where the on/off switch is located so that you can conserve battery power when the seal is not in use.

With Sugar now equipped with batteries and the switch flipped to the 'on' position, he was more than ready to be handed over to my 2 year old who was patiently waiting with open arms. Leo carried him off and gave him a big cuddle, before tucking him up in his make shift bed that consisted of his comfort blanket and a pillow off Granny's sofa. I could see from the word go that they were going to become good friends...Fast!

Leo has spent a lot of time tucking Sugar up into bed with him, and this has given me ample opportunity to get some beautiful shots of them both snuggled up. He has been treating his new seal friend as a baby, and has taken to feeding him his fish like a pro. For the most part he has been incredibly gentle with Sugar, but as you will see from the video there have been a few rough moments which only demonstrate that Sugar WILL withstand toddler play. Let's face it they all get a little over excited at times.

If you leave Sugar alone long enough then he will actually drift off to sleep, when he wakes up he opens up his big blue eyes, wiggles his flippers around and flicks his tail all the while calling out for some attention! If your toddlers make as much noise as Leo does, then you will soon realise that Sugar can be pretty jumpy when it comes to loud sounds. Leo worked this out pretty quickly which of course was rather funny in his opinion...

As expected Leo is completely smitten, and I am sure that will be the case for most children. I think it falls with the parent's when it comes to the nitty gritty details and although I think Sugar is a really lovely toy, I do have a few criticisms.

- When I heard that Sugar moved along the floor I thought that he would move considerably faster than he actually does. Now don't get me wrong, I was not expecting him to gallivant across the floor at lightning speed, but I was expecting him to be faster than he is. We have used him on tiles, wood and carpet and there hasn't been any real variation in his speed on any of these different surfaces, but you will see his speed for yourself in the video at the end of this review.

- I would like to see the batteries included in the price.

Now they are my only quibbles with Sugar, over all I have been really impressed with everything that he does. I don't think that the motor on this toy is too loud, and you can defiantly hear all of Sugar's chirps and chirrups over the motor sound.

I love that each new play session with Sugar is unique thanks to the random functions which mean that they don't operate in a predictable loop. It let's Leo make up his own games and include Sugar in any way he see's fit. Leo has even told me that Sugar needs his nappy changing and that he needs to put cream on his bum! I get the feeling that Leo thinks that he is Sugar's parent and that Sugar is actually a baby human...Not a seal.

I like how soft Sugar is so that he can also double up as a soft toy, and that you can turn him off so Leo can actually take him to bed without random seal noises keeping him awake.. Or even coming down the baby monitor!

In a nut shell, Sugar has been welcomed into Leo's toy collection and is a very popular addition. I can see why there has been so much hype around this new Emotion Pet and think that he will be very popular this Christmas.

Sugar the Seal retails at around £59.99, which I have to admit I do think is quite expensive. But as you can see from our personal experience with Sugar he is a big hit with the kid's and is sure to put lot's of smiles on kid's faces this Christmas morning.

Sugar is currently on offer at Tesco for £55.00 at the point of writing this review, and he is also included in their Clubcard Boost Scheme which means that if you have some Tesco vouchers lying around you can double them up and get some more money off.

Below is a video of Leo enjoying his Sugar the Seal, hopefully this will help you form your own opinions of Sugar.

Will Sugar be on your little one's Christmas list?

Disclaimer: I was sent Sugar the Seal for the purpose of this review. All thoughts and opinions expressed are completely honest and my own.